Forgiveness is a gift that you give to yourself

An emotional Richard who spoke at St Cecilia’s College about the healing power of forgiveness on Wednesday, showed the pupils a picture of his two daughters Naoimh and Enya.

“You girls are doing something now that I will never be able to do,” he said. “You are a looking at a picture of my daughters. If I was told that I could see one thing, it would be them. That said, if I had to give up all of the experiences of my life that I’ve had as a result of my blindness I wouldn’t want my eyesight back.”

Richard, now 54, was just ten years old in 1972 when he was shot and blinded by a British solider firing a rubber bullet on the streets of Derry.

“I remember being in the ambulance, my daddy holding my hand, telling me I would be all right,” he said.

“Initially they thought I was going to die, then they thought I had brain damage. I remember talking to the boy in the bed next to me telling him how I wanted to play football again. I thought I couldn’t see because I had bandages on.”

When he was told that he was blind, Richard said he accepted it immediately.

“I never thought about it that night until I went to bed and I cried at the thought that I would never see the faces of my mammy and daddy again. There was such a sense of loss.”

The Derry man explained how he got through school at St Joseph’s and later university, with the help of classmates.

I was never afraid to ask for help,” he said. “I’m still not afraid to ask. I accepted my blindness, in fact I don’t mind being blind.”

In January 2006 Richard flew to Scotland to meet the man who had blinded him - Charles Innes.

“To sit opposite the man who blinded me was the most amazing experience,” he said. “I learned that forgiveness is a gift that you give to yourself. Forgiveness doesn’t change the past but it does change the future. I wouldn’t be the person I am today if I had been wracked with anger and bitterness. I am a victim of the Northern Ireland conflict, I can do nothing about that but I will not allow myself to be a victim of anger. That is a thing I can do something about.”